Friendships Wither Away
by Extinguished Flame
Summary: Some people change, and they'll never go back to the way they once were. No matter how far one might try to reach. They're lost in their own darkness. [AU] [General Parings]


**Friendships Wither Away**

**By Extinguished Flame**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Authors Note: **WARNING: No smut will be written.

**Parings:** General.

**Spoilers: **None, Alternative Universe.

**Chapter |**

Step One

A blue-eyed blonde and a blue-eyed red head walked hand in hand, both smiling like idiots. They had finally been wed and were now on a romantic walk on the beach. Which for some reason was completely empty, not that they really cared. It was better alone, with no other couples distracting them from each other.

They had waited so long for this, and now that they would be together forever; the world felt perfect. And it had been, from the moment the priest spoke the words, "Namakazi Minato, Uzumaki Kushina: I now pronounced you man and wife."

The reason why they had to wait so long was quite simple, Minatos best friend was what one might call a complete bitch.

Kushina had met Minato through Orochimaru, who was really nothing more than just a friend (not even a close friends) to her. It was the fall dance of their senior year, and to them it seemed like love at first sight. But there was one problem: Orochimaru had a thing for Kushina. And after he realized that Minato and Kushina liked each other, he was furious. His best friend had known perfectly well about his feelings towards the long-haired beauty. Yet he went ahead and liked her as well.

They would argue everyday about it, though Kushina never knew about it though. There would be no reason for her to, after all she wasn't really dating Minato. Yet. After three years, they were in the last year of college, Orochimaru claimed he gave up.

And about a month later, he left town to go to America. That's when Minato and Kushina officially became a couple.

But Orochimaru and him were no longer best friends, and they never saw each-other. They had both worked for the CIA, but his work was only in Japan and Orochimarus was now only in America. Unlike in their teenage years, where they both did jobs for Japan and enjoyed every minute of it.

It was a thrill, really, but after getting serious with Kushina—Minato started fearing death. Not death in general, more like fear Kushina would be left alone if he happen to die. So Minato retired at the early age of 24. But he didn't regret it at all, having Kushina as a wife would be an adventure in itself.

Minato was torn out of his thought's when Kushina's grip on his hand got a lot tighter. Bewildered, he looked at her to see if anything was wrong. Her face looked as if all the blood had been drained out of her face and then painted white for the finishing touch.

She was so pale, he really didn't know why. On top of that she had stopped walking, which had almost caused Minato to trip. Not knowing what was wrong, he looked forward ready to walk again.

The 25 year olds eyes widened immensely, he was shocked at what he saw when he finally looked forward again.

There stood his old best friend, Orochimaru. And what was more shocking than the fact he was there, was how he was dressed. He had on a black suit, covered in blood.

And considering that it wasn't ripped at all and the blood only covered the outside, he knew one thing: that it wasn't his own blood. Orochimaru was also, for who knows what reason, pointing a gun at him.

Around him stood him 6 girls. All dressed in identical outfits. Short's that only covered half their thighs, a tank top, well it really wasn't a tank top— it was more like a fourth of a tank top. Both pieces of clothing were the color of petroleum.

Just like Orochimaru, all of their clothes were also stained with deep red blood. All also held gun's pointed at them, except one girl.

The bun haired brunette held daggers in both hand's in stead of a gun. The daggers looked clean enough, but if you looked closer you could tell they had been stained with blood many times.

A smirk played on each of the girls faces, the kind of smirk that said 'I just went straight down into the depths of Hell and killed the devil himself, and came back unscratched. Jealous?'

"Do you know why I'm here?"

Orochimaru asked in tone that sent shivers down Minatos back. But he wasn't about to show fear.

"Not really."

He replied in a arrogant sort of way. Orochimaru smirked, and without a second thought pulled the trigger of his gun.

It sliced through the thick air and barely scratched Minato's right cheek.

Minato smirked,

"Missed."

He pointed out bragging.

"Have I?"

Orochimaru asked raising an eyebrow. Minato all of a sudden felt a heavy weight on his hand. It was as if someone had collapsed onto him. His eyes widened now realizing what had happened. He looked to the side and at that very same second the source of the weight slid off his shoulder and fell to the ground.

Kushina laid on the soft sand face down. Her deep red blood draining out and staining her creamy white dress. The blood flowed out, the color matched her hair.

Minato turned around in anger and pulled out a gun of his own.

"BASTARD!"

He yelled in pure rage, with one move he punched Orochimaru with the gun. Orochimaru stumbled backward's holding his, probably broken, bloody nose. Minato was about to strike again when a pink haired girl cut in.

She had moved in front of him just as he was about to make his move and caught his hand which held the gun, she removed the gun from his hand and threw it in the air along with her gun. She bent down to the floor, one leg out stretched and swiftly twirled 360 degrees.

She stood back up just in time to catch both iron guns. She twirled the guns with her index fingers for a couple of seconds before placing them in each of her pockets of her shorts. She then tightened her black leather gloves, her stance was one that read 'ready when you are.'

Minato had caught his balance before landing on the ground and turned to the girl, that to him seemed more like a demon, a very stupid demon. He smirked at her position.

She looked, what? 16 or 17, and he was 25. He had more experience especially when it came to speed, and physical strength.

Sakura noticed his smirk, it said something along the line's of I'm-too-cool-you-will-never-beat-me. Boy was he in for a surprise, he had no idea how much strength her little body held. She threw a punch causing air waves to form. But Minato had swiftly avoided it with ease. She jumped up and kicked the ground, thinking it would cause him to collapse, but he had avoided her hit and now stood behind her. The only damage she had caused was a huge hole in the once even sand.

Minato was a bit shocked shocked at the amazing strength this girl had, not that he would show it though. He was right, she must be some kind of demon.

He quickly landed a kick on her back, she stumbled forward. She stood slouched coughing up blood. He had more strength than she had anticipated.

She could barely move, she was sure he had somehow just broken her back. She tried to turn around but before she could Minato stood in front of her. She looked up, her emerald green eyes wide with fear. Minato ignored the look she gave him and landed a final blow in her stomach. The pinkette coughed up a little more blood before collapsing onto the floor.

The bun haired girl wasn't about to let this guy get away for beating up her best friend. She threw her dagger, aimed at his face. She smirked—she never missed, there was no way he could avoid that hit.

Which he didn't, he just swiftly caught the blood stained dagger and looked at the brunette. Wow did she have some nerve. He flung it back at her, his hand so fast it seemed like a blur.

But TenTen managed to catch a glimpse of it right before it was half way to her, and she used her second dagger to stop it. It hit her first dagger and they both dropped to the floor.

She internally flinched at the thought that it might have hit her, but continued to keep a serious face. She pulled out a machete that had been hanging on the side of her left thigh.

After twirling it in her hand once, the 17 year old ran forward.

Which was a move Minato had anticipated. He had grabbed a steel pipe, which had previously been attached to the pink haired girls shorts, a couple seconds ago. He used it to slam it against the chocolate-eyed girls weapon.

She flinched at the screeching sound that was made when their two weapons had collided. She pulled it back ready to hit again. She flung it forward wanting to land a hit on his face, but he stopped it with his left hand (he had taken hold of the handle) and used the pipe to land a big blow on the girl's face. He slapped it across the young girl's pretty face. She was damn lucky the pipe was perfectly smooth.

Her body twisted, and she clutched her now bloody jaw in pain.

It hurt like child birth, but she couldn't stop. Orochimaru had told them whenever in any kind of battle they had to keep fighting till they could no longer move. She couldn't stop, or else she would have to face Orochimaru. And damn did all of them fear him, he was a demon who had thrown away his humanity.

And it was a fact she was not strong enough to face a demon. Especially since he was crazy enough to plot the conquering of the whole fucking world. One thing was planning on conquering Japan, but the world? Hell no. People just aren't suppose do that.

He had been attacking her small town so he could gather some important information when she met him for the first time. She was a government agent in training, and he took note of her skills when she had tried to stop him.

He made an offer, and she had to make a choice . Join him or die trying to stop him. Seeing as she was merely a young teenager that wasn't ready to die, she joined them. All the other girl's had been through similar situations.

They had all become friends, Sakura was the strongest of the group. So if Minato beat her that easily; she stood no chance. But she either fought or died by Orochimaru's hands.

She was about to strike again, with a kunai , due to the fact Minato had grabbed her machete and he now held it, but she first twirled the kunai with her thumb. She was ready to fight, when Orochimaru stepped in, much to her relief.

"That's enough Tenten."

Is all he said to her. She nodded and walked away from Minato.

Minato looked at Orochimaru confused. Orochimaru just smirked. He had not gone to Hell and killed the devil, he was the devil himself.

At least, that's what it looked like. He stepped forward letting go of his bloody nose. He walked near Sakura and used one hand to pick her up. But instead of holing her he threw her to the girl's. The girls scrambled in formation, just in time to catch their friend.

Minato watched as he just threw the girl as if she was trash. Only a bit surprised he could pick her up so easily.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You just threw an injured girl back as if she was nothing!"

Minato exclaimed not believing there was a monster out there as evil as the one that stood in front of him. Orochimaru smirked. Did he forget he injured the girl? Not him.

"I wasn't the one that beat her to a pulp."

Orochimaru pointed out. Minato glared at the demon that stood before him, damn him and his logic. Wow could he be such a smartass sometimes.

He looked over at his wife, and right away knew she was no longer alive. And he really didn't want to come closer to her body. If he did he knew he would break out in tears/sobs/ screams. Instead, the fighting expertise turned back to Orochimaru with renewed anger.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU FUCKING DO THAT?! DIDN'T YOU LOVE HER TOO, YOU ASSHOLE?!"

Minato asked enraged, ready to kill Orochimaru. Orochimaru kept his smirk as he answered.

"Watch the language."

Orochimaru replied. Minato ran forward and picked him up by the collar.

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!"

He demanded his fist ready to give him another bloody nose along with 2 black eyes.

"Calm down, I just decided I don't want anything taken from me anymore."

Orochimaru explained calmly.

"TAKEN FROM YOU!? SHE WASN'T YOURS!"

Minato just couldn't believe what Orochimaru had claimed. Orochimaru took a strong grip on Minatos hand and twisted it along with the rest of his body. After turning the blonde he once called his best friend completely, he made sure his wrists were tightly in-between his shoulder blades.

Minato shut his ayes, wow was his grip painful.

"Whatever, but now nothing can be taken from me. You see I plan to take over this shitty excuse for a world."

Orochimaru said. Minato's eyes shot open, Orochimaru was insane. He shot him a 'you're mentally unstable' glare.

Orochimaru noticed the way Minato looked at him and smirked.

"Don't worry it will take a while. So I guess you have time to try to stop me. Not that it will do any good, but trying never hurt. I love a good challenge."

He continued.

"I will stop you, kill you, and throw you in hell myself. That's where you belong."

Minato vowed. He would, for her. All for her. Orochimaru chuckled.

"As if you could beat me, me and my girls will make you wish you never met us."

Orochimaru promised.

"I beat the pinky no problem."

Minato gloated. Orochimaru smirked,

"SAKURA!"

He called out. The girl lifted herself off of her friends grips. She ran to him as fast as she could, even if it did hurt.

"Yes?"

She asked hoping she had done nothing wrong. Orochimaru looked at Minato once more.

"She seems fine to me."

Orochimaru pointed out. Minato glared at the girl.

"Don't worry this is just step one"

Orochimaru said as he let go. Minato turned around only to find himself alone. They had somehow disappeared. Minato glared at the once again empty waves of ocean water in front of him, but this time Kushina wasn't with him.

What could step two be? Minato wondered. If it was anything like the first one, he wasn't sure he could handle it.

* * *

_You hear that? It's the sound of a moment passing by. And you'll never get it back._

**X_X_X_X**

I know that the whole Minato and Orochimaru Best Friend thing is weird, but I like it for some reason. This story is mostly on their friendship but romance between the parings will come soon. Review?


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